Truck ICEing at Royal Farms Store in Bridgeville, DE

Double ICEd by Tractor-Trailer
Take a look at that picture. A tractor-trailer truck is blocking not just one, but TWO EV charging stations. And those are the only charging stations for miles around.

This occurred on August 27, 2015 at the “Charging Up Delaware” EV charging stations installed at the Royal Farms store in Bridgeville, DE. I approached the manager of the Royal Farms and she told me that the truck drivers park there and leave them – sometimes for days.

New Installation, Signs Ordered
I wrote an email to the director of the program at the University of Delaware. He explained that the charging stations had just been installed and that signs would be there eventually, but it may take a month or two. We had no choice but to drive slowly, conserving range, to the next available charging station which was in Rehoboth Beach.

No Truck, Cone Placed
The next time we passed through was on September 17th. This time there were no trucks parked there, but no signs yet either. I spoke with a Customer Service Leader at the Royal Farms and she helpfully offered to place orange cones by the charging stations to discourage trucks from parking there. She was able to find only one cone but cheerfully promised to order several more.

No Signs, Cone Gone
On the most recent excursion through Bridgeville on October 25th, I was disappointed to see there were no signs posted yet and the cone was gone. Fortunately, the stations were not ICEd and both stations were accessible. I hope that Royal Farms and the University of Delaware will find a permanent solution to prevent the trucks from blocking these valuable and needed charging stations that enable long-distance EV travel on the DelMarVa peninsula.